CRONEY, RUSSELL, WATERMAN, JORDAN, GIBBS, 
MOE & STUART MALONEY STARS OF ROUND 3        

Despite the threat of rain, over 4000 race fans turned out at Bushy Park for Round 3 of BARL's 2008 Championship. While the big juice Group 3C & Group 4 cars were disappointing, the fans were still treated to some very competitive racing in the lower Groups. This was well complimented by the big bike and young Karters demonstration events.

Saturday's Qualifying Session was affected by rain, however only the Group 3C cars did not complete their sessions. This gave the early bird fans on Sunday a taste of what was to come as this session was run before the start of the day's proceedings

Danny Croney (92) in his 1500cc SDRR Hydraulics sponsored Toyota Starlet was the star of Rezults Auto Group 1B, with two wins and a second place from his three Group races. After Qualifying second on Saturday he immediately set about making sure that he would better his Qualifying position. In Race 1 he took the lead from lap 1 and never relinquished it despite being challenged by Ryan Francis (59)in the C.Best Workshop Ford Escort, for the entire race. Race 6 went in much the same manner with Danny leading throughout. this time around his main challenge came from 2007 Group Champion, Hanief Gooding (47) in the Proturf Grounds Maintenance Services VW Beetle .There was a mix up on the part of the officials which saw Danny being placed onGrid 5 for the final Group 1B race. he did not let this disturb him and by the end of the contest had worked his way up to second position behind a jubilant Orville Blackman (23) who was so elated that he performed a bizarre victory dance on the start line to the delight of the spectators. Croney now leads the Group 1B 2008 Championship with 122 points with Gooding on 113 running a close second.

Sean 'doc' Russell (31) in theMcCarthy's Garage & New Thriving Chinese Restaurant Honda Civic continued his dominance of BARL Group 2A and extended his already comfortable lead in the Group Championship with another commanding performance. After qualifying a disappointing eight on the rain affected Saturday he ran a patient first race working his way up to third position behind eventual winner Bradley Weekes in the CITGO Racing Datsun 120Y. Kurt Hamblin in the Ken Hamblin & Son & Willowby Auto Machine Shop Mini was second in this encounter. In the two remaining races for this Group Sean managed to stave off the challange of the relentless Weekes to win both races. In a Group which saw the largest amount of competitors (15) coming under starters orders, 2007 defending Group Champion, Robert Gill in the Kandy King, AS Auto Stop & Rezults Auto Toyota Starlet also had a creditable day finishing with a couple of third place and one fifth place. Russell leads Gill by 25 points at the head of the table in this very competitive Group.

Hott FM Group 2B was dominated by the Flying Fish sponsored Toyota Starlets of Karl Waterman and BARL first timer, Ryan Wood. The duo dominated all three of the Group races with Waterman winning and Wood content to be runner up on his first outing at Bushy Park. Waterman's 142 points means that he is currently leading his Group as well as the Overall Championship. Arron Parris (39) in the Arron Parris Construction Inc., Rosco's Machine Shop & Pete's Auto Datsun 120Y, Edward Corbin (110) in the Klarkodio, JVM Sinage & Corbins Garage Ltd. Daihatsu Charmant and Freddy Mapp (22) in his Mark 1 Ford Escort each recorded a third place finish each to round out the top three positions in this Group.

Powerade/Plus Group 2C continues to grow however front runner Andre Forde (44) in his immaculate Toyota Starlet was unable to maintain the form he displayed in the previous two rounds of the Championship and had to settle for second and third place finishs from his three races. Roger Jordan (49) in the Jubilee Suppliers Ltd. Ford Escort was the Group winner with two first and a third place. Wendel 'soldier man' Batson (46) in his General Welding Workshop & Soldier Man's Trucking Toyota Starlet with first, second and fourth position and Kenrick 'snappa' Husbands (7) in the Williams Equipment Ltd. Toyota Starlet with 33 points rounded out the top three positions in this Group. While Forde did not have a good day it was still enough to keep him on top of the Group standings with 120 points ahead of Jordan on 96. Last year's Group Champion Kenrick 'snappa' Husbands is third on 94 points.

A rejuvenated SOL Group 3A saw the return of Daryl Clarke (106) in the Area 5 Auto Works, Paintless Dent Removal & Chicken Pen Racing sponsored Mitsubishi Mirage who scored two first place finishes. Clarke had to pull out all stops to hold off a hard charging Sean Gibbs (63) who copped a first, second and third place from his three starts. Shawn Boxill (51) piloting the Suzuki Swift of car owner Colin Reed scored a second and fourth place from two starts. Newcomers Ron Greaves and Russell Campbell both driving Honda Civics gave notice of things to come as the both turned in creditable performances which overshadowed their rookie status. Greaves scored a second and third place from two starts and Campbell had two fourth place finishes from as many starts. Gibbs was Group winner and continues to lead the Championship with 73 points.

SOL Group 3B saw another BARL returnee in Philip Greaves (493), however he was no match for the now seasoned campaigner Philip Moe (88) in his BRC/Williams Industries Toyota Starlet. Moe must be very disappointed as once again he was left with very little competition to match skills with.

The merged Digicel Group 3C and BARL Group 4 was severely hit by the god of attrition as one by one competitors were sidelined by various mechanical problems. Even before Qualifying started on race morning the Red Bull, Ratec LLC, Spancrete Machinery & Universal Building Products Mazda RX 3 of Mark Maloney (86) was finished for the day. Stuart Williams (30) in the Williams Equipment Ltd. Toyota 'silver bullet' Starlet qualified on pole ahead of Stuart Maloney in the Automotive Art, Crane & Equipment & Simpson Motors Mitsubishi Evo 5 but the promised battle between these two competitors did not materialise as Williams was forced to retire in both starts, the latter of which saw him out of competition for the day. Steve King (76) in the Castrol Nissan Skyline and St. Elmo Cumberbatch (82) in the Carib Supply, Michelin & F. Taylor Insurance Datsun 120Y both had starts but were unable to complete races before joining the casualty list. Doug Maloney (33) in the Paints Plus Audi A4 scored a second place before he too joined his comrades at attrition center with mechanical failure in the second Group race. There was no such problems for Stuart Maloney and he made a clean sweep of proceedings with three wins in his Group races and then closed the day in blistering form by winning the Williams Industries Handicap. The other bright spark would have been the successful introduction of rolling starts for these races.

Now on to the Williams Industries Caribbean Championship on August 31......